China's Inner Mongolia City Warns Of Possible Bubonic Plague Infection

Local authorities in a city in Inner Mongolia's Chinese area warned on Sunday, a day after a medical facility confirmed a case of suspected bubonic plague. The city of Bayan Nur's health office issued the third-level warning, the second-lowest in a four-level alert.

The warning restricts the hunting and eating of animals that could carry the plague and asks the public to report any suspected cases of plague or fever without clear causes and to report any sick or dead marmots.

The suspected bubonic plague case was reported early Saturday by the local health officials who announced that the warning period will continue until end of the year.

According to local health officials, at present, "there's a risk of a human plague epidemic that is spreading in the city," NDTV reported. The health officials, according to the report, urged the public to improve their self-protection awareness and report abnormal health conditions promptly.

Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is transmitted by fleas that live on wild rodents like marmots. It is among the three types of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

Based on a report by the World Health Organization, the plague is so deadly it can cause death to an adult in under 24 hours if no immediate medical intervention is undertaken.

On July 1, government-operated Xinhua news agency disclosed that two suspected cases of bubonic plague were reported in western Mongolia's Khovd province. An individual who contracts the Bubonic plague will exhibit flu-like symptoms, from one to seven days after being exposed to the bacteria.

Meanwhile, Mongolian authorities have ordered residents of the western Khovd region into lockdown following reports of two persons who might have been infected by the plague. Tests showed that the two had contracted the "marmot plague".

In a statement, the National Center for Zoonotic Diseases of Mongolia disclosed the disease is connected to the consumption of marmot meat.

Local officials have ordered a lockdown in Mongolia's provincial capital and one of its districts, around 500 kilometers south of the southern Siberian republics of Altai and Tuva.

The NCZD stated that it has evaluated samples taken from 146 individuals who have made direct contact with the two infected people. The center also identified 504 second-contact persons.

The bubonic plague, known as "Black Death" in the Middle Ages, is a highly contagious and usually fatal disease that's transmitted mostly by rodents.

Cases of the plague are not uncommon in China, but outbreaks have now become increasingly rare. From 2009 to 2018, the country has reported 26 cases and 11 fatalities.